The deregulation of the telecommunications industry has yielded an environment where subscribers are given the choice of many long distance carriers. With each carrier comes a different rate plan that governs the cost the subscriber will pay for calls of various kinds. In addition, many carriers have optional calling plans that generate further choices. The complexity of these plans makes it difficult for consumers to know if they are paying too much for their service.
Many prior art systems have addressed this concern by providing telecommunications systems that routes a particular call based upon an estimate of the carrier with the lowest cost. While providing some benefit, these systems are not readily available to all subscribers. Further the use of multiple carriers could provide a variation in the quality of the service that the subscriber receives.